Media Briefing February 20, 2013

GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE ALL ELECTRONIC TOLLING

Wednesday, February 20, 2013. I will start at 10 am with as many of you as can show up

Where:

Golden Gate Bridge Toll Plaza Administration Building Parking Lot, southwest end of the Golden Gate Bridge, meet in the meeting room on the left just inside the Administration Building.

Who:

Mary Currie, Public Affairs Director and Spokesperson

What:

With the functionality testing of the new all electronic tolling system continuing, we are kicking off several new components of our public outreach and education program. We are honing our messaging for the 30% of our toll-paying customers who pay using cash. We are providing a couple of new information tools to assist cash-paying customers to make an informed decision as to which toll payment option will be best for them. The end of March is still the target for the full conversion to all electronic tolling.

WHAT WILL BE DEMOED February 20: I will show how easy it is to perform the following actions using a computer with a large screen set up for you TV folks to be able to see clearly what I am doing:

Launch all new dedicated web pages for all electronic tolling at www.goldengate.org/tolls. (click on image below for larger size)

Launch new www.511.org connectivity for Golden Gate Bridge all electronic tolling information as well as phone line 511. (click on image below for larger size)

PLEASE NOTE: Cash Payment Locations are not ready for a field trip demo quite yet, I am targeting March 1 for this demonstration.

Additional Helpful Information

How many vehicles cross the Golden Gate Bridge using FasTrak? Using Cash?

Annual southbound traffic totals nearly 20 million

Overall 70% (14 million) use FasTrak and about 30% (6 million) use Cash

AM commute FasTrak peak: 86%

PM commute FasTrak peak: 79%

Saturday Evening peak: 59%

Who are the 30% who are paying with cash today?

10% are crossing more than 4 times per month; this audience will likely migrate to FasTrak

18% are crossing less than 4 times per month; this audience will likely migrate to a combination of FasTrak and the three Pay-By-Plate options

2% are rental vehicles that are not currently in the License Plate database that is used today by Bay Area FasTrak Customer Service Center to assess tolls on rental cars using license plates – these are the rental car users that prefer to pay using cash and not use the tolling programs offered.

How much of the Golden Gate Bridge traffic is from outside California and where does Bridge traffic come from?

3% annual motorists that cross the Bridge are from outside California.

MARIN: 38.8%

SONOMA: 10.8%

SAN FRANCISCO: 23.3%

SAN MATEO: 6.6%

NAPA: 0.8%

ALAMEDA: 2.7%

CONTRA COSTA: 1.7%

SOLANO: 0.7%

SANTA CLARA: 2.4%

OTHER: 11.9% --- includes 3% from outside of California

Compare the cost per transaction, FasTrak to Cash?

Manual toll collection is the most expensive way to collect tolls. The fully loaded costs for each type of toll transaction is shown below and includes things such as banking fees, credit card fees, fees we pay to the Bay Area FasTrak Customer Service Center to operate and process the transactions, costs of other onsite staff, such as electricians who keep the system running, are projected as follows: Cash – $0.83 per transaction for Cash to $0.25 per transaction for FasTrak.